71 



In the Southern States we find the lofty Palmetto, the 

 Papaw Fig, the great Magnolia, and the Mangrove tree, the 

 only shrubby plant that can flourish in salt water. 



Mr. Pinkerton, when speaking of the Botany of this coun- 

 try, observes perhaps with more elegance than correctness, 

 that " the glories of the American Flora are principally con- 

 fined to Virginia and the Southern States. It is here that 

 the unfading verdure of the wide savannas, the solemn mag- 

 nificence of primeval forests, and the wild luxuriance of the 

 steaming swamps, offer to the astonished admiration of the 

 Botanist, every thing that by colour, by fragrance, cr by form, 

 can delight the senses or fix the attention." In this part of 

 the country on the level of plains by the sides of the rivers, 

 gi*ow " the Magnolia glauca or Beaver tree, American Olive, 

 and Gordonia Lasianthus, silvered over with fragrant blos- 

 soms, with numerous species of Azalias, Kalmias, Rhodo- 

 dendrons, arranged by the hand of nature into thickets and 

 shrubberies, entwined and overarched by the crimson Grana- 

 dillas and the fantastic Clitoria,here display their inimitable 

 beauties in full perfection. The sides of the pools and the 

 shallow plashes, are adorned by the bright coerulian flowers 

 of the Axia, the golden blossoms of the Canna Lutea or the 

 rosy tufts of the Hydrangia, while the edges of the groves 

 and the dubious boundai'ies of the savannas, rising imper- 

 ceptibly towards the forests, are fringed by innumerable gay 

 varieties of the Phlox, by the shrinking Sensitive plant, the 

 irritable Dionsea, the glowing Amarillis Atamasco and the 

 impenetrable ranks of the Royal Palmetto. 



The Botanist will find that many of the plants mentioned 

 by this florid writer, are met with in most of the other states. 



Our mountainous ridges and our sea coast, are very pro- 

 lific in Cryptogamic vegetables. The Equisinum, the Os- 

 munda, Polypodium, Adianthum, Onoclea and Bryum, are 

 some of the ferns and mosses. The Lichen, Tremella, with 

 many species of Jungermania and Marchantia, are the sea 

 weeds or Algae, and the Boletus, Clavaria, and Lycoperdon, 

 are the Mushrooms or Fungi, 



